6th grade extension activities - hmns.org€¦ · web viewthink about the concepts of material...

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6th Grade Extension Activities

McGovern Hall of the AmericasThird Floor

Cooking 101Choose one of your favorite meals and create a flow chart about how to prepare the meal. You must include a list of ingredients, each step needed to prepare the meal, and a drawing of each step.

Culture Around the World

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Developed by theHoustonMuseumofnaturalscience. All rights reserved.

Generously supported by Phillips 66.

Think about the concepts of material culture and non-material culture. Come up with two forms of material and non-material cultures in regards to three different countries around the world. How many material/non-material cultural items did you find that are the same around the world? How many are different?

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?Native groups used lavishly decorated items to serve their food to guests or use during grand ceremonies. When did they used fancy or decorated dishes? Ask them to explain why everyday dishes were not used on those occasions.

When presidents are hosting special events or dinners the White House china is used to serve the meal to those in attendance. These dishes have patterns and designs that represent time periods, beliefs, or leadership changes. Conduct additional research about the White House china. You should find answers to the following questions:

What makes each plate different?

What reasons do you think the president may have had for choosing the designs?

What does the design say about our leader?

Can you tell what causes they may have fought for?

Do you think heads of foreign nations would have noticed the designs?

Can you guess what time period the dish is from?

President Johnson’s china represents issues that were important to him. President Johnson’s plate has an eagle holding an olive branch in the center with a border of wildflowers representing his wife’s love of Texas wildflowers.

What Does Your Totem Say About You? 2 5/25/2023



Totem poles could explain the story of a particular family. Use a toilet paper roll, and a set of totem symbols (you may use clip art to choose your animals), and a symbol definition worksheet (see web site below). Choose three to four symbols to color and place on your totem pole. Write a story about the animal arrangement on your totem pole. When you have completed your stories ask them to roll it up and place it inside your totem pole.

Web Site:

www.gullitotempoles.com/TotemPoleSymbols.html

Your Room Speaks for YouOne interpretation of the quote could be that the place where someone lives tells a story about them. Think about your bedrooms. What story would people tell about them if all they ever saw was your room? Write a journal entry about the things in your room and the story they might tell.

Kachina WishesKyachina dolls were created to help the Hopi address their needs. Some dolls were created to ask for rain or abundant

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http://www.gullitotempoles.com/TotemPoleSymbols.html

crops. Think of a wish you would like granted. Draw your own kachina doll and explain its powers. Your kachina should have some sort of representation of the wish that is being made.

What Did You Say?The Mississippian people never developed a writing system, instead they learned to communicate through symbols. Create a way to communicate the sentence below. You may not use any letters of the alphabet.

On the 4th of July we ate hotdogs and watched fireworks.

Create more sentences using symbols and trade them with a partner to see if they can figure out what the symbols say.

Tell Me a StoryWrite a children’s fable about an animal you can sketch. Illustrate your fable.

Mascot Wars The Mayas used the jaguar sculpture to help protect their cacao crops. Think about your school mascot. In most cases, a mascot is a strong and fearless being. Write a journal entry about your school mascot. Do you think you are a good representation of the school? Why or why not? What mascot would you choose if you were allowed to pick a new one? Why? Draw your new mascot at the end of your journal entry.

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Create a CountryYou learned about many different tribes of Native Americans and how they ran their societies. Create your own country and run. Name your country, draw the shape of your country, name your capital, add geographical features, choose a government, form of currency, and an economic system. Explain the decisions you made to form your country.

Hall of Ancient EgyptThird Floor

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Location, Location, Location!Use a blank map of Egypt and the European countries around it. Label Egypt, Greece, Italy, Rome, the Nile River, Lower and Upper Egypt, Alexandria, Memphis and any other place of importance that you learned about while viewing the maps in the exhibit. Include a compass rose so that you can tell north from south. After viewing your completed map write a short essay as to why you think it may have been so easy for Alexander the Great to take over Egypt. Are there any other countries that might have had an easy time taking over Egypt? Why?

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Reading and Writing: The Ultimate Form of Communication

Only a select group of boys were allowed to go to scribal school. This would mean that almost all girls were illiterate (they could not read or write). Think about what it would be like if you could not read or write. Think about all the things that you read each day. Warnings, school books, comic strips. What about all the things you write down like notes to friends or family, birthday cards, and even a grocery list. What are some things you would miss if you could not read or write?

PyramidsDuring the Old Kingdom the Great Pyramids of Giza were built. Do some research on the pyramids. You should research who they were built for, what might have been included inside, how they were structured and who built the pyramids. Write a short report about what you have discovered.

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Strake Hall of MalacologySecond Floor

A New Kind of CephalopodResearch to discover the pros and cons of one particular part of a cephalopod’s defense. Create a new cephalopod species. Also create a drawing or computer generated picture of your new species.

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Don’t Go, We Need You!

Write a journal entry about what you think would happen if squids were eliminated. How would this change the environment around us? What would the sea creatures have to do in order to survive?

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What Are These?

The Australian Trumpet Snail belongs to a very large class called Gastropoda. There are three sub-classes of Gastropoda. Research sub-class and create an informational PowerPoint© about what you have learned. Include some fun facts, families in the sub-class, and pictures about their sub-class.

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Cullen Hall of Gems and MineralsSecond Floor

Use the picture of the mineral below to help you with the following Extension Activities.

Where Can We Find It?How many different minerals do you see in this picture? Where on Earth do you think these can be found? Make a treasure map to help others locate these minerals. Color it and include longitude and latitude, a Compass Rose, and a legend.

Formulas Rock! The colors you see in this mineral occur naturally. Have a discussion with a family member about how you think these colors were produced

Research how different kinds of rocks, for example marble, shale, pumice, or limestone, are formed. Create an at-home rock collection that

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includes drawings of various rocks and an explanations of their formation. Include a formula explaining how the rock is formed to include in their rock collection. For example:

Carbon + Pressure + Time = Diamond

Farish Hall of Texas WildlifeSecond Floor

My Life as a Bird Write a creative story from the point of view of one of the migratory birds. The story should include the type of environments the bird prefers, what it eats, how its beak helps it eat, its migratory path and how it interacts with other bird species. Remember that this is meant to be a creative story based on facts.

Animal Income Remember that many of the animals that were once popular in Texas are either extinct or exist in extremely limited numbers. Tell them that some of these animals were hunted for their food, pelts or sport. Some of these animals were important to the U.S. economy. You are going to research U.S. industries that are dependent on animals. Make a chart listing animals that are currently in Texas and which industries rely on them. You should then explain what you think would happen to the U.S. economy if one of the animals was removed.

Levels of OrganizationRemember that ecosystems can be divided into different levels, from individual organisms to the entire biosphere. This same system can be applied to you as well. Create a level of organization pyramid starting with themselves as the organism. Think about the population you belong to (your family, your class, etc.), the community as a whole, and the whole ecosystem to which you belong.

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Hamman Hall of Texas Coastal EcologySecond Floor

Marine Debris Begone

Research methods used to clean up tricky marine debris (think trash that has floated far out to sea or particles so small they can’t be caught in a net). After choosing a method to focus on or brainstorming your own, create a story about the problem of pollution. You could have villains, superheros, double-crossers, etc. Get creative with solving the crisis.

Salinity

Review the concept of salinity. Explain that different spots in the ocean may have different concentrations of salt (the ocean is not homogenous), and that these concentrations can be so different that they actually form distinct layers in the water.

You will need: large beaker or clear glass, small glass, spoon, water, salt, food coloring.

Fill the large beaker about 1/3 full of water. Add in salt, stirring to dissolve the salt in the water. Keep adding in salt until you can’t add any more (if you stir for 5 min. and the salt isn’t dissolved, you are there!). This is a hypersaline solution.

In the small glass filled with water, add a small quantity of salt- a spoonful should do. Add a few drops of food coloring to this glass so that this solution is clearly different.

Carefully and slowly add a small amount of the colored solution to the hypersaline solution in the large beaker. Do not stir. What happens?

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Frensley Hall of African WildlifeSecond Floor

New Species, New Job The Okapi has parts of its body that resemble other animals such as zebras, giraffes, and horses. Create a new species of animal from head to tail using various features from other animals you have seen. Make a drawing or 3-D model of the new species and create a name for it.

You will play the role of curator at a press conference and present your new animal to a group of “reporters” (classmate or family members). As curator, you should be prepared to explain your animal’s unique features. You should also be able to explain why or how these features will help your animal thrive in the wild. You playing the role of reporters can ask questions like:

What will the new species eat?

Where will the new species live?

How will the species protect itself?

How will the species warn off predators?

What is the average size of the new species?

Save the Rainforests!Research parts of the world where rainforests can be found. Identify their locations on a map. Tell them to investigate the problem of the vanishing rainforests. On a map using two different colors outline the areas that the rainforest covered 50 years ago and the area the rainforest covers today. Display your maps around the room and have a discussion about the vanishing rainforests. Give examples of what you can do to help save the rainforests.

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Personal TraitsIdentify traits you inherited that you like or dislike. Write a journal entry to describe the trait, who you inherited it from, and why you like or dislike it.

Family TreeDiscuss the difference between inherited traits and learned behaviors. You will create a personal family tree, using names and photos, going as far back as you can gather information. You will choose one family member to interview and create a chart showing their inherited traits and learned behavior. See example below.

Subject: Aunt Joy

Inherited Traits – Inherited From Learned Behavior – Learned From

Blue eyes - dad Gardening - mom

5’ – dad Quilting – momkin

Blonde hair – popkin Cooking - mom

Foot size – dad Balancing Checkbook – dad

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The Morian Hall of PaleontologyFirst Floor

No, That’s Not How it Happened. This is the Real Scoop!Create your own theory about how and why dinosaurs became extinct. Write a story explaining your theory and illustrate it. Be as creative as you like with your theories.

What if We Put Them Together Wrong?There is no real picture of dinosaurs for scientists to look at as they reconstruct the dinosaurs displayed at the Museum. What if scientists put the dinosaurs together wrong? Use characteristics of several different dinosaurs and construct your own version. You should rename it, describe what it ate, where and when it lived, what dinosaurs were its enemies, and how it became extinct.

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Wiess Energy HallFirst Floor

Map ActivityIn the 1960s scientists became interested in the plate tectonics of the Afar Depression in Ethiopia. This is one of only three places on Earth where three giant plates of the Earth’s crust meet to form a giant Y.

Use an outlined map of Africa. You will use an atlas and the internet to label the following locations:

Arabian Plate

Somali Plate (African Plate)

European Plate

Eurasian Plate

Afar depression

Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

Yemen

Great Rift Valley

Red Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Draw arrows on the map to show how the tectonic plates moved.

Energy Through TimeDiscuss how petroleum affects our lives today compared to 100 years ago. How is it the same? How is it different? Create a list of ideas. Choose one activity from the list (i.e. cooking dinner, getting to school, or curing an illness) and write a story describing how that activity would have been done 100 years ago.

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Alternative Energy SourcesOne of the most important conclusions you may reach from studying the Energy Hall is that the world desperately needs to develop renewable energy sources.

Create a list of different energy sources. Choose two from the list and research which one you feel would be the most efficient. Create a presentation with your findings

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Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Hall Main Level

Save the OceanMany animals within the oceans are at risk due to environmental changes and pollution. Choose one area that is associated with marine life: beaches, deep water trenches, sea anemones, sand bars. You should research the animals that call the area home, what threats those animals face, as well as ways to prevent further damage to the ecosystem.

Deep Water ExplorationImagine that you are going on a journey to the bottom of the ocean. Design a submersible vessel that will allow for survival at extreme depths and under extreme pressure. Create a blueprint for the vessel that includes a method for conducting research, survival gear, and emergency plans should something go wrong.

The Welch Chemistry HallLower Level

Energy TransformationLook back at the energy transformation chart that you completed. Look for additional examples of energy transformation. Then, use poster board and other materials to illustrate and label what you think is the most important energy transformation in the room. You must explain your findings.

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Solar SystemOutside Main Entrance

A Game, A Game!Make a Solar System game. Include the Sun, all the planets, meteorites, comets, asteroids, and moons. Create a game board with playing pieces, and include a set of instructions on how to play the game. Be creative!

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6th grade extension activities - hmns.org€¦ · web viewthink about the concepts of material...

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